Page:The Biographical Dictionary of America, vol. 04.djvu/381

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GRANT


GRANT


police commissioner for New York city in 1894. He resigned in 1897 and on the declaration of war between the United States and Spain he was appointed by Governor Black, colonel of the 14th New York volunteers and accompanied the regi- ment to Camp Black, N.Y , and afterward to Chickamauga, Tenn. President McKinley com- missioned him a brigadier-general in tlie volim- teer army. May 27, 1898, and he led his brigade in the campaign in Cuba and afterward in the campaign against the Filipinos. He was pro- moted to the rank of brigadier-general in the regular service by President McKinley, his pro- motion being confirmed by the U.S. senate, Dec. 20, 1899. His son, Ulysses S. Grant, Jr., was appointed by President McKinley in 1898 a cadet- at-large to the U.S. militarj^ academy, his grand- father having left an open letter to '"the President of the United States," dated, April 3, 1885, asking for such an appointment, the letter having been endorsed by General Sherman under date, Feb. 1, 1887.

GRANT, James Benton, governor of Colorado, was born in Rus.sell county, Ala., Jan. 3, 1848. He served for one j-ear in the Confederate army when sixteen years of age, and after the war removed to Iowa. He was educated in the Iowa agricultural college, at Cornell college and at the school of mines, Freiburg, Saxony. He settled in Denver, Col., in 1876, and became interested in mines and smelting furnaces in Gilpin county and in Leadville, and in 1883 joined his business with that of another company which was known thereafter as the Omaha & Grant Smelting com- pany, of which he was vice-president. He was governor of Colorado in 1883-85, having been elected by the Democratic party.

GRANT, Julia Dent, wife of President Grant, was born in St. Louis, Mo., Jan. 26, 1826; daughter of Frederick and Ellen (Wrenshall) Dent. She attended the boarding school of Miss Moreau in St. Louis, 1836-44, and the latter year became engaged to Lieut. U. S. Grant, then stationed with the 4th U.S. infantry at Jefferson barracks, and they were married Aug. 23, 1848, after the return of Grant, a captain, from the Mexican war. She spent most of the first four years of her married life in camp with her hus- band, who was stationed at Detroit, Mich., and Sacket Harbor, N.Y. When he was ordered to the Pacific coast she returned to her home in St. Louis and in 1854 she was joined by her husband who had resigned from the army. She shared with him the domestic hardships and privations of the next six years and in 1860 they removed with their children to Galena, 111., where in 1861 Captain Grant entered the volunteer army and rapidly rose to command the armies of the United States. She accompanied him in many


of his campaigns and in 1864-65 made her home in camp at City Point, Va., where she witnessed the closing scenes of the war. Through two ad- ministrations she was mistress of the White House, and she accompanied her husband in his tour around the world. After Genei'al Grant's death congress voted her a pension of §5000 a year and she re- ceived for the benefit of her chikh-en from the publishers of '■ The Personal Me- moirs of U. S. Grant," upwards of half a million of dol- lars as roj-alty on its sale. Tliree sons and one daughter were born to her ; the eld est, Frederick Dent, was graduated at the U.S. military acad- emy ; Ulysses S. settled in California ; Jesse made his home with his mother, and Nellie was mar- ried in 1874 to Algernon Sartoris and lived in England till 1895 when she returned to the United States with her children and in 1898 by special act of congress, was restored to her citi- zenship. At the request of her husband it was provided that after the death of Mrs. Grant her body should find sepulture in the .same tomb that held his own, and in constructing the Grant tomb at Rivei'side park. New York city, provision was thus made. In 1898, she accepted the presi- dency of the Woman's national war relief associa- tion, organized for service in the war with Spain. She died in Wasliington, Dec. 14, 1902.

GRANT, Lewis Addison, soldier, was born in Bennington county, Vt., Jan. 17, 1839; son of James and Betsey (Wyman) Grant; grandson of Jacob, and great grandson of Joseph Grant of Wrentham, Mass. His mother descended from the Wymans of Woburn, Mass. He was educated at Townsend and Chester, Vt., and engaged in the practice of law at Bellows Falls, Vt. In 1861 he organized the 5th regiment, Vermont volunteer infantry, was commissioned its major, Aug. 15, 1861, its lieutenant-colonel, Sept. 25, 1861, and its colonel, Sept. 16, 1862. He took comm and of the " Old Vermont Brigade " in February, 1863, and continued in command most of the time until the close of the war. The brigade was actively engaged in nearly every important battle of the Army of the Potomac and with Sheridan m the Shenandoah valley, and its losses from killed and wounded in battle were said to have been greater than those of any other brigade of the Federal army. He was promoted brigadier-general of